Prison guards want a lesbian couple separated after one of the women went ballistic, attacking one guard, hurling racial slurs and smashing appliances.

Correctional Service Canada has refused the transfer, prompting 14 guards to ask for a transfer out of the maximum-security unit at the Edmonton Institution for Women.

Guards say the inmates' behaviour stems from a stormy marriage - the first same-sex union in a women's prison - they warned would cause problems.

"Everything I said at the time is coming true," said Union of Canadian Correctional Officers Prairie region president Kevin Grabowsky.

"This is just wrong on so many different levels. Together they're a problem. One's a constant problem and she's like the dynamite and the other's the fuse."